A HALF CENTURY OF CONSERVATION 331 



difference," he said, "that, when there is anything 

 to do, I do it with all the power I possess." There 

 is a thought here. To my mind, Roosevelt's personal 

 genius lay in his unerring perception of the inspira- 

 tions, aspirations, and limitations of the American 

 genius, and the conviction, courage, and power with 

 which he sought their fulfilment. He was, perhaps 

 consciously, the embodiment of America, whence 

 came his powerful convictions and sureness of ac- 

 tion. Upon becoming President, he created in 

 law, beating down all oppositions, institutions 

 which he believed that public consciousness would 

 make permanent. He knew his America. 



Among Roosevelt's first works as President 

 was development of our forest reserves, which he 

 found administered by the Interior Department 

 while the Forest Service under Pinchot was studying 

 principles and promoting private forestry from an 

 office in the Agricultural Department. Roosevelt 

 put the work and the workers together and built up, 

 against opposition which would have appalled an- 

 other, the National Forest as we know it to-day. He 

 assembled the movements making for national irri- 

 gation, and launched Reclamation. He encouraged 

 governmental control of game, enabling the Biologi- 

 cal Survey to emerge from precarious scientific be- 

 ginnings into its present position of national effi- 

 ciency. He established the first bison range and the 

 first fifty bird refuges. He made possible the Na- 

 tional Monuments System to preserve objects and 



